The Blog

Today was a beautiful, sunny, 70 degree day in Central Florida…too pretty a day to not be at Magic Kingdom.

I started my trip as I always do, walking through the Emporium to see if there was any new merchandise. Much to my surprise, an entire wall of Monsters University merchandise had just arrived. From what I have seen so far, it’s all really cute and well done. Based on how many guests I saw grabbing items today, you may want to pick up whatever you want next time you’re in the park. I especially like the blue Monsters University adult shirt and the iPhone cases (available for iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5). They also have plush and other toys featuring characters from the movie, hats, children’s shirts, and monster light-up headbands.

After leaving the store I headed to Adventureland to see if the new Pirate’s Adventure: Treasure of the Seven Seas game was play testing like it had earlier in the week. Unfortunately it was closed for the day, so I instead headed to Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain reopened just over a month ago from a much-needed refurbishment and I wanted to see how it was holding up.

When it first reopened last month it looked great! Every single effect was working, even some that hadn’t worked for years, the sound system seemed brand new, and the lights and paint were refreshed as well. Today most of the attraction effects were still working great. The only thing I noticed not working were the fountains that jump over the track in the lower Laughing Place scene. It has been really fantastic seeing my favorite attraction looking so new and working properly!

After Splash Mountain I took a quick ride on the Walt Disney World Railroad over to Fantasyland. When I stopped for a drink I noticed that the ice cream cart replaced the Nestle Triple Blast Ice Pop with a Nestle Itzakadoozie Ice Pop. I verified that this change was the same at all the carts throughout the park. The price is $3.75 (same as the Triple Blast Ice Pop was).

After walking around a bit more I decided to head out of the park. I decided to take the monorail back to my car and was very excited to find the Iron Man wrapped Monorail in the station! It may seem silly but I get so excited riding on the special monorails. At first I was upset that it wasn’t the brand new Monsters University monorail…until I realized that the MU monorail was also out and I would be able to see it if I waited around a bit after I reached my destination. The Monsters University monorail isn’t as much of a wrap as it is just window decorations and banners, but I still think it looks great! It’s fun to see the monorails looking a bit different every now and then.

Agreed! Seems like the DLR guys post stuff like this all the time for the benefit of locals who might appreciate the day-to-day changes more. But even us non-frequent WDW folk love to hear this stuff about “our” parks- helps us feel like we’re there a little more.

I just really wish that while Splash Mountain was closed for refurbishment, they had rethemed it. It would be so perfect as a Princess and the Frog ride, with really not all that many changes needed. Although it probably wouldn’t make sense to have a princess ride outside of Fantasyland. Oh, well. I guess discussing race relations with my kids breaks up the monotony of waiting in line.

Hi Scarlett,
You’re so lucky to live to close to WDW! Just curious, do you visit the parks on your own a lot? I noticed you have 2 toddlers but don’t always see them mentioned in your posts. Thanks for making me feel like I’m there too! Love the short and sweet posts!